Body Disposal & Time Death Interval Flashcards
List the 5 methods of preservation.
- Embalming
- Mummification
- Cryonics
- Taxidermy
- Plastination
What are 3 methods of body disposal?
- Sediment burial
- Cremation
- Sea burial
- Storage above ground
- Exposure
- Dissolution
- Resomation
- Maceration
- Promession
- Mushroom burial
What kind of method is burning?
Acceleration method
What are the other acceleration methods, other than burning?
- Dismemberment
- Burial
- Chemicals
How deep are deposition burial sites typically?
4 feet
What makes a deposition site primary or secondary?
Primary: first and final site
Secondary: reburial
In burial, what level of soil is the most biologically active?
Upper layers
What are the factors associated with decomposition rate in burials?
- Burial depth
- Soil type
- Humus
What aids the detection of deposition sites in burial cases?
- Throw/upcast/disturbed stratigraphy
- Vegetation disturbances
- Soil change
Name the techniques used in body discovery.
- Ground-penetrating radar
- Thermal imaging
- Resistivity
- Magnetometry
- Cadaver dogs
What are the pros and cons of ground-penetrating radar?
- Penetrates concrete and paved layers but problems with clay soils
- Works in water but only fresh water
What is the most common technique used in body discovery?
Ground-penetrating radar
What are the advantages of thermal imaging?
Can find recent deceased even in shallow graves
What are the disadvantages of resistivity?
- Historic and contemporary debris causes problems
- Surface disturbances can cause issue e.g. ploughing, frozen or dry soil
What are the pros and cons of magnetometry?
- Useful in less disturbed soil
- Doesn’t work well in urban areas e.g. due to power lines
Name 2 ways decomposition odours can be detected.
- Cadaver dogs
- Field portable instruments
What are primary and secondary depressions in grave detection?
Primary: entire grave surface
Secondary: Area above thorax
What volatile organic compounds are cadaver dogs especially useful at detecting?
Putrescine and cadaverine
How is vegetation useful in detection?
- Decomposition can cause bleaching of plant life as well as smothering
- Pioneer and young plants indicate recent disturbances
- High nitrogen and ammonia levels can cause plant death
- Damage from digging
What are the methods of determining PMI in early decomposition stages?
- Potassium concentration in vitreous humour
- Mortises
- Last meal
- Entomology
Name the methods of estimating PMI using decomposing and skeletal remains.
- Insects
- Radiocarbon dating
- ADD/total body score
- Pollen analysis
- Botany
- Biochemical methods
